Teams Salivating for Crawford

[AW13 196]

A true American goaltender from the same agency that brought Oleksiy Revchenko, the Ukrainian sensation who carved out a decent career in the VHL in his time. Never a star but always a solid dependable forward, Revchenko now gives way in the AW13 agency to someone who could end up being a star in the VHL's coming future. 

 

Solomon Crawford is the current goaltender for the Las Vegas Aces, where ironically, Revchenko also got his career started. Crawford is a true American goaltender in the sense that he always represents his country and with not too many American goalies in the VHL, Crawford could stand out in the league for being him. As an African-American goaltender, he will always be a little unique but he loves that. "When people look at me, they don't see a hockey player but I have always loved hockey from playing street hockey in the pothole covered streets of St. Louis. My dad loves basketball, and I love it too but I really love hockey! A young kid from the Lou making it in the VHL? That would be so great."

 

Crawford struggled at times in his first bit of VHL action with the Aces but helped lead the team to a playoff birth and a win in the series against Ottawa that saw Crawford stop shot after shot, saving almost 50 shots. Crawford got some playoff action right away in the VHLM career which could be huge for his growth and development getting some serious hockey action just a few weeks into his professional career. Crawford showed his ability and room to grow in his short stint and looks to get picked up again in the upcoming VHLM dispersal draft by a team.

 

"I hope I go to a team that values winning and player development. I would love to continue my playing career in Vegas, it has been great and I think it is a great place where I can grow into a star. I do think I will go high in the draft however and can see a lot of teams going after me. I will likely spend some more time in the VHLM while I develop so teams needing a starter will jump on their chances. If that happens it is okay, it means I am wanted and that's never a bad thing, let's see how it goes!"

 

Looking at Crawford, we can see his strengths and his weaknesses and where he can grow and where he will be better than the others in the league. Crawford has amazing reaction time, the best seen in VHLM caliber players and opposing skaters will have a hard time getting pucks past Crawford due to his terrific reaction time in getting his glove or stick on all shots. He is also quickly developing his hand speed as well which combined with his reaction time could be extremely deadly. He needs to get better at his rebound control and his overall agility but that will come with learning the speed of the game at the professional level.

[Bayley 419]